His wife healthy, Guerrero returns to ring Saturday

By Bob Velin, USA TODAY

Robert Guerrero works the mitts with his father, Ruben Guerrero, left, during a media workout this week.

By Tom Hogan, Golden Boy Promotions

As her eyes locked in on the woman walking up the steps of the Mexican restaurant in Tucson, a stranger from halfway around the world whose bone marrow had saved her life, Casey Guerrero had a feeling this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Sponsored Links

She couldn't have been more right.

"She was like an angel just guarding over me," Casey says of her first meeting in April with Katharina Zech, the 22-year-old woman from Germany who was the bone marrow donor match she and her husband, Robert, had prayed for as Casey lay withering away in the hospital from the ravages of leukemia, which had spread to her brain, leaving a transplant as a last resort.

"It was amazing. I just grabbed her and hugged her and started crying," says Casey, who still can't relate the story without breaking down. "I didn't want to let go. I'm just so thankful she saved my life."

Robert Guerrero won't soon forget that first meeting, either.

"As soon as they locked eyes and saw each other, they both broke down and started to cry and they hugged," he said, admitting to welling up himself. "I think it was about a 5-or-10-minute hug and crying, and really touching to see that. It's one of those timeline memories you never forget."

The 2010 transplant was successful — doctors had given the Guerreros only 50-50 odds that it would be — and today Casey Guerrero is cancer-free with a new lease on life and a new friend.

The changes have given Robert a new lease on life, too, especially his ring life.

Guerrero was a rising star whose promising boxing career was turned upside down by his wife's illness. He gave up the biggest shot of his career — a title fight against Michael Katsidis— to be by his wife's side, and to take over duties as a full-time parent to his two young children. Boxing became secondary. He has fought twice in two years.

Saturday night, Guerrero (29-1-1, 18 KOs) will return to the ring for the first time in 15 months, taking on undefeated Turkish brawler Selcuk Aydin at San Jose's HP Pavilion (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET). The site of the fight is not far from Guerrero's home in Gilroy, Calif.

Guerrero, 29, moves up two weight classes to fight Aydin (23-0, 17 KOs) for the interim WBC welterweight title — the lesser title was approved by the WBC because champion Floyd Mayweather is in jail. Aydin has said he will break Guerrero's jaw.

Guerrero has never fought above lightweight (135 pounds). No problem, he says.

"I'm feeling great at 147 pounds," says Guerrero. "(Aydin) is a very tough, hard-punching guy, I've been watching a lot of film on him and the guy can fight. He can't box but he can fight. A guy like that brings a tremendous amount of pressure."

Guerrero, nicknamed "The Ghost", will not only be fighting without his wife's illness weighing on his mind, but without pain in his left shoulder, something he's lived with for half his life.

The southpaw had surgery last August to repair a torn and detached rotator cuff in his left shoulder that has plagued him since he was injured in a football game when he was 14. The shoulder finally gave out just before his scheduled fight against Marcos Maidana a year ago.

"The shoulder is great. There's no concern at all," Guerrero told USA TODAY Sports in a recent interview. "I went to the best doctors, one of the best physical therapists in the country and I … just can't wait to get out there and let the left hand go.

"There's a lot of talk about my shoulder and going through surgery and all that, but the surgery went great and it's time to get out there and show the world what I'm capable of doing."

Few people know what Guerrero is truly capable of because he's never been able to fully display his boxing skills. He couldn't let on how much the shoulder bothered him during a career in which he won titles in three weight classes.

"Early in my career I had (the shoulder) go out and I had to fight with one arm. It would bug me from time to time in training, but I had to (suck it up) and keep on trucking and working through," Guerrero says.

"The one thing about being a fighter is not showing signs of weakness and exposing it to people because that's when your opponents want to take advantage of you, when they know you're injured and not 100%."

Guerrero finally got his shot against Katsidis in April 2011, and won a convincing unanimous decision, leaving the Aussie's face bruised and swollen. A few months later he underwent shoulder surgery and has been on the shelf since.

Guerrero admits the last 4½ years, since his wife's illness was diagnosed, have been "miserable," citing a number of reasons, not the least of which was being unable to fully pursue the sport he loved.

"The family life with the kids and being there for them, and being there for my wife, and also stepping up as a man to do what I got to do to provide and support," he says. "Going to the gym, training, also working on the side to just stay alive, because it really took a toll on the finances, with my wife's hospital bills, and not being able to fight, not leaving home to train because I wanted to be by my wife's side. I really feel support is everything, and being there helps get me through the day."

The deeply religious Guerrero always remained strong in the presence of his wife during his daily visits to the Stanford Medical Center. It was during the hour-long drive home to Gilroy alone that he often cried the whole way.

He sometimes thinks about where he might be if he hadn't had to give up some of the prime years of his career, but his strong faith helped pull him through.

"There were huge setbacks, when I was on the verge of doing big things," Guerrero says. "But I just look at it as God opens doors for you that can't be shut, and He shuts doors on you that can't be opened. That's the way I look at everything.

"But He's opening doors for me now."

Neither God nor Guerrero could pry open the door to a fight against undefeated superstar Mayweather, for which Guerrero lobbied hard last year. But he couldn't get his promoter, Golden Boy, or Mayweather himself to take him seriously as an opponent. It hurt.

"It was very frustrating, especially starting my boxing career at 122 pounds, then winning world championships in multiple weight classes," Guerrero says. "I've done things that some legendary fighters haven't even done. To not be taken seriously, it really hurts.

"But I'm a big believer in Christ, and I truly believe he's blessed me to beat anyone in the world. I just got to keep my faith up … because I know when it's God's will, it can't be stopped."

Casey Guerrero, who has watched Robert fight for the last 14 years — they were childhood sweethearts — knows how important being back in the ring is for her husband.

"He loves fighting, and when he was out injured, he wanted to get back in the ring as soon as possible," Casey says. "Get back in the gym and fight. That's what he loves to do.

"I'm just excited for this fight. He's gonna kick some butt."

Sitting ringside with Casey and her family on Saturday will be a special guest who has become a big Robert Guerrero fan.

Katharina Zech, who joined the donor registry after her grandfather died from leukemia, returned to the U.S. two weeks ago to visit the Guerreros, and will stay a week past the fight.

The Guerreros hope to visit their new friend in Munich this fall, too, hopefully during Oktoberfest. But first things first.

"(Saturday) is the bone marrow survivors' reunion down at Stanford, and they're going to attend that before the fight," Guerrero says. "It's just going to be an exciting weekend for my wife and myself and the whole family."

If Guerrero has learned anything throughout his long, arduous ordeal, it's to take nothing for granted. He believes God has blessed him to be a shining light and an example for others.

"It's not just about boxing," he says. "It's about inspiring people in their lives."

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Posted | Updated

USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines.